Any Way You Want Me - By Jamie Sobrato Page 0,24
hand, which she accepted in an awkward handshake.
“No problem. Yasmine said you were desperate.”
Cass imagined her best friend telling this guy that she was lonely and horny, that she hadn’t had a decent date all month and hadn’t come within shouting distance of a live, naked penis in longer than she cared to admit.
He seemed to realize his mistake. “Oh, I mean, desperate to get your computer fixed. Not, you know…desperate for anything else.”
A surprised laugh burst out of her, easing the tension in the air.
“Come on in,” she said. “I’ll try not to look too desperate.”
She led him to the traitorous computer from hell, which always managed to conk out on her at the most inopportune times, such as when she was in need of a midnight shoe-shopping binge or a midafternoon perusal of hot guy pics on the Internet.
“So what seems to be the problem? Something about the Internet not working?”
Cass told him about the error message she was getting, and he nodded as he checked something on the back of the CPU. Seeming to be satisfied with what was going on back there in the never-never land of cables and cords, he sat down, then started rambling on in techno-babble as he typed and clicked his way through various screens.
She mmm-hmmed and nodded as if she had a clue what he was talking about, then made an excuse about something she needed to check in the kitchen. Alone in the midst of her self-created domestic purgatory, she rummaged around in the fridge pretending to have a purpose. Her only real agenda was to stay away from Drew while she tried to think of some suitable reason to tell Yasmine why she couldn’t ask him out.
Such as he wore a Paul Bunyan shirt and talked so fast and about such dull things she could hardly understand him. Maybe she’d be fibbing a bit on the second part, but she was pretty sure he’d prove her right, given enough time. He definitely didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d go for an over-the-hill ex-stripper. She’d probably have to go trolling the late-night leftovers at her favorite nightclubs to find those guys—so it was a good thing she didn’t really want a guy at all.
After rummaging around the kitchen for as long as she reasonably could, she poked her head out the doorway and asked, “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thanks,” Drew said. “I think I’ve got your problem fixed.”
“Wow, already?”
“Sometimes computers just sort of freak out and need to be turned off for ten seconds and restarted. That should be the first thing you try if you can’t figure out what’s wrong.”
“Oh,” she said, entering the living room again. “I think Yasmine has told me to do that before. I just forgot.”
“Not a big deal.” He opened up her Web browser, and there it was—the Internet back and waiting to tell her how to make parmesan stuffed mushrooms.
“You’re welcome to stay for a drink. I’ve got to get started on cooking right away though,” she said as she sat down at her desk.
“Thanks, but I’d better go. I have a family thing to attend today.”
“Ugh, family. I actually miss them this time of year—they’re all in Santa Barbara, and I didn’t feel like flying down there again for the weekend. So I’m having some friends over for dinner instead.”
She looked at him, and for the first time, noticed that he had a nice smile.
“I was wondering,” she said before she could change her mind, “if you’d like to go out sometime. I could take you to dinner as a thank-you for fixing my computer.”
He waved away her suggestion. “All I did was restart it. That’s not worth a meal.”
Boy was this guy dense. “So come to dinner, anyway.”
He blinked behind his glasses, and Cass was tempted to add, please don’t wear that shirt.
He flashed a crooked smile and shrugged. “Okay, why not?”
“How about Monday night? Are you free then?” Better to get the deed over with sooner rather than later was Cass’s philosophy.
Drew appeared to give the matter some thought, probably trying to decide whether a night with her would be more exciting than a night of Internet porn, or whatever guys like him spent their time doing.
“I think I’m free. I mean, well…actually, I know I’m free.”
“Perfect. So why don’t you pick me up around six?”
“Yeah, um, sure. So, we’ll go to dinner.”
“I’d invite you to stay for dinner tonight, but you said you have